Panathinaikos nailed the victory it was after in a frozen Moscow behind final score 72-68 across from CSKA, in views of Euroleague game 6.
Panathinaikos held the superlative to its rival CSKA straight from tip-off, however the absence of stability in its competing performance and moreover the turnovers deprived it from any measurable distance from the Russians. In the first 12 minutes the greens had already committed 8 turnovers and through the entire first half they had accumulated 12, CSKA on the other hand halving tallied only half (6-12). Despite the mistakes and with main weapon in its artillery great three-point range (4-fo-5 in the first quarter, 6-for-9 in the entire first half), the clover had the upper hand, forming up to a 7 point cushion (8-15 at 5’50’’, 18-25 at 10’20’’) then on to a +9 edge (28-37, 17’’45’’), the opposite team having enforced comes backs off meek distances to 26-25 (13’20’’) and 28-28 (13’45’’). Rivals headed towards the locker rooms Panathinaikos standing 6 points ahead of its host, 35-41.
Zeljko Obradovic yelled at his players quite a few times during the first 20 minutes game time, but had very little to complain about during the first few minutes of the second half. Milenko Tepic named a double digit shadow on his opponents for the first time in the clash (+11, 35-46, 21’40’’). Nevertheless, CSKA fought back. A three drilled by Holden made score 40-46 (23’) and a two drained by Siskauskas cut the trail even more (42-46, 23’15’’). Third quarter inning came about, Panathinaikos enjoying a sweet +9 gap (51-60)., Obradovic having pulled off the bench Kostas Kaimakoglou, but also having used the pair Fotsis and Tsartsaris in big-men positions across from Vorontsevich and Smodis. Only for a little while though, since Fotsis was charged with his third personal foul at 27’40’’, whilst when Tsartsaris headed towards the bench he was weighed down by 4 personals.
Stressed out by finally victorious
Dimitris Diamantidis got himself in fouling trouble as the game recommenced, as he committed his third personal foul (30’25’’), the home-team gaining on the greens to 58-60 (31’30’’), refs sharing unsportsmanlike fouls to Sato and Holden, the latter beating the prior. Smodis drew from the charity line (60-60, 33’15’’), Obradovic having called upon Fotsis and Batiste, also attempting to offer a few breathers to Diamantidis, throwing Calathes into the battle, the aforementioned giving the lead yet again to Panathinaikos (60-61, 33’25’’). It was not a long lasting effect though, as Sokolov scored to 62-61 next. Fotsis chipped in for the greens with a pair of free throws to 62-63 (34’25’’) and then on to 62-65 (36’20’’), Stratos Perperoglou creating even better conditions on the floor for the clover, unleashing a trifecta to 62-68 (37’10’’). Diamantidis copied him to 64-71 (37’50’’). An offensive foul decision with which Panathinaikos strongly disagreed, 1’40’’ pending on the game clock, aided CSKA in picking up the slack back to 66-71 (38’40’’) and even more next as Bykov pushed the gap back to 68-71 (39’). With 20’’ left Smodis failed to get range, Diamantidis picked up the defensive board, kept the ball in his possession and at 5’’2 went to the line to mark 68-72, Siskauskas missing the buzzer beater. Scenario he has repeated in the past. Panathinaikos eventually getting to the positive result it was chasing behind final game score 68-72.
Referees: Martin (ESP), Belosevic (SRB), Boltauzer (SLO)
Quarters: 18-23, 35-41, 51-60, 68-72
CSKA Moscow (Shakulin): Bykov 6, Smodis 11, Siskauskas 10, Holden 6, Vorontsevich 11, Langdon 7, Sokolov 17, Gordon
Panathinaikos (Obradovic): Tepic 9, Perperoglou 12, Batiste 8, Fotsis 7, Sato 5, Nicholas 4, Tsartsaris 2, Diamantidis 17, Vougioukas 4, Calathes 4, Kaimakoglou
“Silly mistakes”
Zeljko Obradovic was pleased in his boys’ performance in the game versus CSKA Moscow. However, for yet another encounter he had remarks on the turnovers committed by his team, which he stressed for yet another occasion must be cut down dramatically.
“We came to Mocow, in order to face CSKA in a strange situation, since the team was illustrated with a new coach but also had been presenting an ill performance since the beginning of the Euroleague season. These are situations that always provide extra motivation to the players and this evening CSKA committed a really good game. We had spoken to the players about this; we tried to prepare our players for an offensive game, surely to be presented by our rivals. For us, it is an issue, the easiness in which we lost many of the leads we had gained many times throughout the encounter, due to silly mistakes. It troubles me that we play so well and loose gaps because of stupid turnovers. It is hard to watch it happen and it is something we must certainly correct. Victory was important for us, congratulations to my players, they fought for the entire 40 minutes and I believe we deserved to win. Congratulations to CSKA for fighting till the end, challenging us for the win at every moment. They remedied certain aspects, gave more playing time to the more experienced players, the players who know best, leaving out or offering less playing time to other players such as Marjanovic and Gordon. They try, they tried today but we as always are interested in what we do”.
“I have faith in Vougioukas”
Replying to a Russian journalist, about having been troubled or not by Sokolov’s performance in the big-men’s department, head coach of Panathinaikos, Obradovic had a fixed answer: “The fact that Sokolov scored did not come as a shock to us. He scored off his perimeter players’ game that did a great job in feeding him the ball to easy baskets. It is a department in which we on certain occasions committed huge defensive mistakes. Mistakes committed by my big-men. Vougioukas is a newcomer to the team. In the Greek League he performs superbly and needs time to perform in the equivalent fashion in the Euroleague. I have faith in him”.
Obradovic was asked what he would advise CSKA to do, the Russian team being in the fowl predicament it is: “CSKA has many experiences people who know all too well what must be done. From my side, I wish the team all the best. Anyhow, I think that the situation it is in is also due to the many injuries the team is facing. There were too many injuries, an issue which deprives a team of a good practice. If you don’t practice well you don’t play well. It is a situation we found ourselves in last season in the Top16 round”.
“We have our way”
On behalf of the Panathinaikos players Mike Batiste stated: “It was a tough game for us. We knew that CSKA had to win at all expenses. We knew the situation and what was going on in our opponents’ team but we also wanted the win. We also knew that CSKA would not be the same team as it was in previous games and it is only natural that it would be so. We, on the other hand, played well and managed to leave the arena with a win across from a great opponent. For us our performance is as important as our result. We have our way in winning”, only to add “Anyhow, it is not easy to win CSKA at its home, since it is one of the greatest clubs in Europe . Certainly, the result is a great boost of our team’s confidence. We continue towards our goal and look forward on to our next encounter”.
Next spoke Romain Sato, who stressed: “A game versus CSKA is always very important especially when it is in such a situation. From now on we look ahead and prepare for all the games as if they were finals. This is the way we prepared for this matchup thus we made it”.
Miscellaneous
*For yet another encounter Aleks Maric was sidelined for Panathinaikos, Yorgos Bogris taking his place on the squad.
*Panathinaikos and CSKA Moscow have not met up in the Euroleague regular season since 2005-06. Since then they have faced each other twice in official encounters, in two Euroleague finals, Panathinaikos snatching the win on both occasions. The first time back in 2007, in Athens behind final score 93-91 and the second time in 2009, in Berlin , clover dominating by 73-71.
*Familiar faces existing also in the game. Sergey Bykov and Antonis Fotsis were teammates in Dynamo Moscow, going all the way up to conquering the ULEB Cup in 2006. Ramunas Siskauskas played for Panathinaikos in the 2006-07 season, gaining the triple crown. He was teammates with Dimitris Diamantidis, Mike Batiste and Kostas Tsartsaris. He was teammates on another green team with Drew Nicholas: Benetton Treviso. In a season in which the Italian team had won the local championship and Drew Nicholas had been awarded the “Alfonso Ford” trophy as Euroleague’s top scorer. Also, Siskasuskas is one of the three players who have competed with both teams, alongside Nikos Hatzivrettas and Dimos Dikoudis.
*The encounter was the first in which Dimitry Shakulin performed as head coach in the Euroleague. Shakulin was assigned to the position after Dusko Voujosevic’s resignation from the leading spot of the technical staff of CSKA Moscow.
